Fastening device for flat articles



Sept. 18,1934. E. LUKACS 1,973,989

FASTENING DEVICE FOR FLAT ARTICLES Filed Oct. 25. 19.27 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 18, 1934. 5 LUKACS 1,973,989

FASTENING DEVICE FOR FLAT ARTICLES Filed Oct. 25, 1927 2 Sheets-She s: 2

Um Mm Patented Sept. 18, 1934 FASTENING DEVICE FOR FLAT ARTICLES Elmar Lnkacs, Berlin-Schoiieberg, Germany, assigner to Hinz Fabrik G. m. b. 11., Berlin- Mariendorl', a corporation of Germany Application October 25, 1927, Serial No. 228,604

In Germany June 1, 1927 6 Claims. ((21. 129-168) My invention relates to a rider clip or tab for flat articles, such as sheets, plates, cards of paper, pasteboard, metal or any other suitable material as used for books, card indexes, registers and any other purposes. The rider clip or tab may serve for joining theflat articles or carrier or as clip, rider clip or marking clip. It may hold special index marks, such as plates or labels, on the flat .articles or mark the fiat articles. It may also be .used for distinguishing files, portfolios and the like in the manner of tabs bearing suitable inscriptions or numbers.

The object of my invention is to. provide a particularly favorable or improved construction or design of such a rider clip or tab, which ensures an extraordinarily firm seat or grip upon the fiat article and is at the same time easily detachable without the aid of any appliances and which thus joins, holds or marks the fiat articles .20 such as the leaves or cards of a register, card 7 index or a book- According to my invention the tab which is adapted to be'applied to the edge of the fiat article such as the edge of an index or register card, comprises two oppositely arranged fiat plates of-sheet material fastened together along a fixed axis to form opposed limbs, at least one of said limbs being constructed of resilient material to adapt it to exert a yieldable pressure upon a card or other fiat article having one edge disposed between it and the other of said limbs, one limb being shorter than the other limb and provided with one or more projections adapted to cooperate with said longer limb for embracing the interposed card or other fiat article under yieldable pressure.

On a preferredembodiment of my invention, the shorter limb is constructed of relatively stifl material and the longer limb of relatively resilient material. v

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, an edge of the shorter limb parallel to and distant from the fixed axis along which the flat plates are fastened together, is bent towards the longer limb while said longer limb is provided with a transverse recess for receiving the bent edge of the shorter limb.

In the drawings. afllxed to my specification and forming part thereof a number of embodiments of my invention are illustrated diagrammatically by way of example. f

In the drawings Figure 1 is a top plan-view of one embodiment of my invention.

Figure 2 is'abottomplanviewotthe same.

Figure 3 is a cross-section of the same.

Figure 4 is a top plan view of the rider clip shown in Figures 1,2, and 3 mounted upon a card.

Figure 5 is a cross-section of the same.

.Figure 6 is a similar cross-section of a modified form of the rider clip shown in Figures 4 and 5.

Figure 7 is a side elevational view of another modified form of the rider clip;

Figure 8 is a top plan view shown in Figure '7 Figure 9 is a top plan view of a double or twin clip embodiment of my invention.

Figure 10 is a side elevation of another modified form of the rider clip shown in Figures 4 and 5.

Figure 11 is a top planview of another embodiment of the double or twin clip form of my invention.

Figure 12 is a'side elevation of Figure 11.

The clip or tab may be bent or otherwise shaped 'or formed as the Figures l to 9 show from two sheets 11, 12 riveted together at about their middle at 13, 14 or united in any other suitablemanner or it may be formed from a single sheet of material such as shown e. g. in Figure 10. In either case, the rivets 13 and 14 determine an axis between two oppositely-presented wings, one of said wings comprising two oppositely-arranged limbs 23 and 24 which are adapted to clasp the edge of a fiat 'article inserted between them. When the clip or tab is employed as ridermounted upon a card of a card index it may itself act as marker or indicator by the shape and configuration or the color of its vane. It may also be adapted to receive and hold indicator cards, strips, tickets or labels 1'! visible through front windows 18 and, if desired, also through windows 19, 20 in the back. The rear limb of the clip is longer than the front one and is provided about midway of its length with suitable perforations 20 which are adapted to cooperate with suitable 5 projections 21 in the form of tongues, teeth, prongs, claws or the like of the shorter front limb, said projections being equally spaced along the edge of the shorter limb.

Fig. 4 0! the drawings illustrates howsuch a clip is mounted as a rider upon the edge of a register card 15. This card is provided close to its upper edge with preferably equally spaced perforations 22 through which the tongues or proof the rider clip jections 21 of the shorter limb penetrate, as particularly clearly shown in Fig. 5 of the. drawings. If these tongues and the like are made narrow orslender, as shown in the drawings, the perforations in the edge of the card may be made correspondingly small so that the material of the card is saved and the card is not substantially weakened. These projections of the shorter .limb of the device which engage the longer limb at corresponding points thus ensure an extraordinarily firm seat of the rider upon the edge ofthe card. By bending the rider which preferably is provided with at least one elastic limb, the

.projections move out of the openings of the other the edge of the card against bending so that in hardly exposed to any wear and tear.

spite of the firm seat of the rider the card is Since the riding clip is, so to say, also closed at the lower edge adjacent cards are prevented from slipping underneath it.

If the projections of the rider and the perforations ofthe card are equally spaced, the rider clip may easily be moved along the edge of the card and fixed in anyposition. The openings in the longer rear limb are preferably chosen slightly larger than the projections entering them. They may be circular, as shown in the drawings, or have any other shape, for instance rectangular shape.

It is not absolutely necessary that the card should have perforations through which the tongues or prongs of the one limb of the clip penetrate. If the clip is made of sufliciently strong material the projection 21 forces or displaces the material of the card towards or into the opening 20 in the back leg,-as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings, so that hereby also is secured a firm seat of the clip upon the edge of the card. The longer limb of the clip'may also be made without perforations 20 and be provided with a simple depression or recess into which enters the edge of the'other limb of. the rider clip.

A construction of this kind is illustrated in Figs. '7 and 8 of the-drawings. Here the lower edge 25 of the shorter limb -of the clip is for the larger part of its width or for its entire width bent towards the other limb and engagesya recess.

or groove 26 of the other longer limb of t herider clip. I v 1 As shown in Figure 10, the rider clipsijmay be made by folding as at 116 one flat piecefi or instance of. an elastic material, which by punching or in any other suitable manner may be-provided with projections 121, and openings 120 or the like along the forward edge of piece 123. The

limbs 111 and 112 may be riveted together at 114.

A particularly favorable method of manufacture results froma further development of the invention for this and. other rider clips of any description, if the rider clip is composed of two separate portions, that part or limb which is constructed by transforming a plate body by, for.

instance, producingprojections iipon it, being made of an unelastic material, suchas open hearth steel (Siemens Martin steel), the other part or limb, which consists of a plate not machined at all or to a slight extent only, for instance merely provided with windows, being made of tool steel, and thus forming the elastic leg of the clip.

In this way the process of manufacture is greatly cheapened in so far as the very inconvenient and expensive tempering of those thinwalled bodies is rendered unnecessary, and furthermore the shaped portions of the first-mentioned limb offer such a high resistance to any deformation that the teeth, for instance, become neither worn nor bent even when the clip is frequently handled.

The above described arrangement according to which the rider engages with inwardly directed projections, or the like of the shorter limb correspondingly shaped recesses, depressions, perforations and the like at about the middle of the length of the other limb, presents a further advantage in particular in combination with the above described process of manufacture according to which the limb formed by machining a plate is constructed of a rigid material and the other limb of an elastic resilient material.

The shorter limb may be located on the front of the card. The rider clip employed as mark or indicator then ensures a firm seating even with a short front limb, which is safeguarded v by the longer back limb as well as the engagement of the front limb into the back limb.

The firmness of the seating is increased if the front limb is constructed of a rigid non-resilient material because the spreading apart of the two limbs, by bending the clip around the edge of the card is effectively prevented in spite of the shortness of the front limb. If the rider clip serves as a marker or indicating rider on index cards, the rider now encroaches and covers very little of the front upper edge of the card and it isthus possible to keep the card edge required for the provision of any fastening means, such as for instance the row of perforations 22 in Fig. 4 of the drawings, very narrow.

The application of the invention is by no means limited to-rider clips for registers or card indexes. The clip is owing to its extraordinarily firm seat suitable as a uniting or binding member for bodies or articles composed of leaves, sheets or plates. The clip orfastener may thus, for instance, be duplicated as illustrated in Fig. 111 9, and be employed to unite or join together two leaves or plates of an article along their edges. The improved clip may thus, for instance, be used to attach indicator tags to document files, portfolios or cases. It may also be provided 12 with a hinge 130 at about its middle as shown in Figures 11 and 12 or other articulated connections such as those employed for binding the [sheets or leaves in a loose-leaf book or binder.

comprises the oppositely-arrangedv clip-elements 211 and 224 on one side of the articulated axis or hinge and on the other side thereof clipelements 212 and 223. Said clip-elements on either side are respectively provided with prongs 1: 221 and openings 220. a

It will be understood that it is not absolugly necessary to punch perforations into the card. It is sometimes ample to emboss depressions or recesses or to secure by other means the firm 1; seating of the leg or limb provided with the said projections in the form of tongues, prongs and the like. The invention is, of course, by nomeans limited to marking or indicating riders and may equally well serve asa fastening device and as such it fulfills, owing. to its peculiar construction, all the conditions with which other fastening devices comply which are secured by rivets, screw bolts and the like. a

The fastening device according to the invention may also serve as a carrier or support for cards,fo r instance, for fixing or mounting them in the back of a book in the manner of leaves. It may, furthermore, be employed as a tag on files or portfolios. The fastening member may 1 be made in duplex'form by being provided with hooks, prongs or the like at both ends as described above.

I desire it to be understood that my invention is not limited to the details of construction shown and described by way of example, as various changes and modifications within the ambit of my. claims will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In combination with a flat article provide with perforations along one edge thereof, a rider clip comprising two oppositely arranged limbs, means for holding said oppositely arranged limbs against relative displacement,- one of said limbs being shorter than the other and comprising at least two portions, thelonger of said limbs eonsisting, of a single portion extending across.- the entire width of said shorter limb, a projection comprising a plurality of claws upon said shorter limb, said claws being presented towards said longer limb, said longer limb being provided with openings suitably located to receive the claws on the shorter limb, said claws being presented through the perforations in said flat article.

2. In a,rider clip for fiat articles, in combination two oppositely arranged plates, said plates beng fastened together midway of their length, the outer ends of said plates on one side being adapted to clasp the edge of a flat article between them, one of said outer ends being provided with a projection comprising inwardly presentedv .claws distributed across the width of the other of said outer ends, the respective outer ends on the other side being .provided with windows adapted to receive index strips.

3. A rider clip adapted to be applied to the edge of a fiat article, said clip comprising two oppositely arranged flat plates of sheet material fastened together along a fixed axis to form opposed limbs, at least ,one of said limbs beingconstructed of resilient material to adapt it to exert a yieldable pressure upon a card having one "edge disposed between it and the other of said limbs, one limb being shorter than the other limb and provided with a projection comprising laterally spaced inof the shorter limb with its lower edge oifset substantially into the plane of the shorter limb, gripping means. extending 'aleng the entire width of the lower portion of said shorter limb and presented towards said longer limb, said longer limb constructed to allow the gripping means on said consisting of at least two portions, the longer limb consisting of a single portion extending across the entire 'width of the shorter limb, a projection exsaid longer limb, said longer limb having a longitudinal groove to allow the projection on said shorter limb to extend below the general plane of the adjacent surface of said longer limb.

6. In combination with a flat article, a rider clip comprising two oppositely arranged limbs, means for holding said oppositely arranged limbs against relative displacement, one of said limbs being shorter than the other and comprising at least two portions, the longer of said limbs consisting of a single portion extending across the entire width of said shorter limb, a projection comprising claws upon said shorter limb, said claws being presented towards said longer limb, said longer limb being provided with openings registerng with said claws, said claws adapted to press the material of said flat article into the openings in said fonger limb.

ELMAR LUKACS. 

